"fpr-wr p- 3
The Commoner.
MARCH 20, 1908
3
the wealthy" and declares that the railroads
"want to be sure that for some simple and per
haps Innocent Infraction of a complicated law
they can not be mulcted for millions." It at
tacks the courts and the judge who Imposed the
$29,000,000 fine for "a technical violation of
the law." It calls those and other decisions
"outrageous" and says they were "formed by a
socialistic public sentiment and carried out in
the name of law, etc., etc."
Was the editoria. written for the Pennsyl
vania railroad or did the Pennsylvania railroad
just happen to stumble on to the editorial? Who
owns Leslie's Weekly? Is it not worth while
for the reader to find out who stands behind
these magazines that assault the government,
the congress and the legislature? Whose knife
is it that is stabbing out of the dark? What
conscience, what character, what reputation
stands back of the editorial in Leslie's Weekly?
If we knew the controlling force we could bet
ter weigh the words and the above is only a
sample of what is now going on in this
country.
The press that ought to be the avenue
through which information reaches the public
has in many cases become the vehicle f6r the
spread of misinformation and for veiled attacks
upon those who would enact legislation just
to the masses.
ty 5 tJ r
TOBACCO TRUST TOO?
The iew York World, so fond of asking
Irrevelant questions, may be interested in a
recent issue of the publication called "Tobacco"
and published in the interest of the tobacco
trade. The editor of "Tobacco" charges that
the New York World has deliberately Ignored
important news, the publication of which was
not desired by the tobacco trust magnates. This
trade publication then asks:
"Can it be that Joseph Pulitzer is one of
the little handful of persons who hold stock in
the tobacco trust? Does the owner of the World
participate with Duke and Ryan in the dividends
of the concern whoso methods have recently
been characterized by Colonel Henry Watterson
in the Louisville Courier-Journal, 'Those of the
pirate, the pickpocket and the porch-climber.' "
? n O v (
THE TRAVELING MAN
Have you talked with the traveling men
lately? They are an important factor In our
commercial progress and they are the best news
gatherers. The merchants come Into contact with
the farmers and laboring men, and the mer
chants' opinion is communicated to the travel
ing men in return for information gathered in
the business centers. Thus the evangel of com
merce becomes a sort of telephone, carrying the
messages vback and forth and bringing the dif
ferent sections of the country into communica
tion, n
The traveling men know that the public
Is not satisfied with existing conditions and they
know that the voters are becoming aware of
the fact that the republican party is responsible
for the conditions. Monopoly in trade and in
transportation is the enemy of the traveling
men because the commercial traveler is the ex
ponent of competition and the deadly foe of
monopoly. Monopoly needs few traveling men
and the traveling man is retired in proportion
as monopoly gains a foot-hold. Anything that
restricts trade or hinders commerce hurts the
traveling man, and he is naturally drawn to
democratic ideas because democracy stands for
the greatest freedom of the individual and of
industry. When the democratic party demands
that the government shall be administered by
the representatives of the people and in behalf
of the people, it takes a position which the trav
eling man is compelled by his interest to endorse,
for just in proportion as the masses prosper
the traveling man finds business; just in pro
portion as the producers are embarrassed the
commercial traveling man's work is retarded.
In proportion as the trusts obtain control of
the industries, the business of the traveling man
is menaced; in proportion as there is inde
pendence in industry, the traveling man thrives.
The traveling man is by nature a tariff reformer
for while the monopoly may increase its divi
dends by limiting its product and increasing its
price, the traveling man must depend upon large
sales, and large sales depend upon fair prices.
The more money left in the pockets of the
masses, the more they have to spend with the
merchants and through the traveling man.
And so with the railroad question. The
traveling men have been benefited by the re
duction in rates, not only directly, but they
have been benefited indirectly. The travel
ing man does not profit by tho accumulation of
unearned dividends in tho hands of a few rail
road magnates ho profits as the powor of tho
people to spend Increases. The traveling man
might bo interested In watered stock and ficti
tious capitalization if he was running a matri
monial bureau and selling foreign titles to Amer
ican heiresses, but as ho is interested in bring
ing the producer and consumer together he Is
compelled by force of circumstances to advocate
legislation which will make business active and
remove restrictions frjom trado and exchange.
The commercial travelers will be a val
uable auxiliary In tho coming campaign. They
are intelligent, ever present and always on tho
watch. They do more talking for the amount
of pay they receive than any other class of peo
ple, and they generally know what they are
talking about. If you want to know the trend of
affairs, listen to the traveling men as they get
together at the close of the day's work. They
are a pretty good index of pul lie opinion.
A TEMPORARY INTEREST
Just after the election of 1904 a man who
was prominent among the advocates of Mr.
Parker's nomination at St. Louis remarked that
a great many people who wore advocating Mr.
Parker's nomination, showed very little inter
est in the campaign after the nomination. It
is true. There are certain financial interests
which are always active before the convention;
they want to dominate both parties and nomi
nate both candidates. After the convention ad
jouVns, they pick out their candidate and pro
ceed to help elect him, ignoring entirely the
other candidate, even if they helped to force
him upon the convention. That Is just the sit
uation at this time. There are certain monopo
listic influences that are demanding that tho
democrats nominate a man friendly to predatory
wealth. These men have their representatives
in the various states and they are working under
hand. When they talk to a man they say: "Of
course, we can not prevent Instructions, but we
can get the right kind of men on the delegation,
and then watch our opportunity." These men
are speaking in whispers; they are working
underground. If they can control the demo
cratic convention and nominate some one in
whom tho predatory interests have confidence,
they will then feel sure that the democratic
party has no chance, and proceed to help tho
republican candidate.
Can they fool the voters? Not this time.
The experience of four years ago has not been
forgotten and with that experience fresh In
memory, the democrats will put none but tho
trustworthy on guard. If the democratic voter
wants to understand the real purpose of tho
trust papers, let him compare tho eulogies of
Judge Parker which appeared before the con
vention with the denunciations of him that fol
lowed. These papers that told what a splendid
man he was and how strong the party would be
under his leadership turned against him as soon
as the campaign opened. The New York World,
one of his loudest champions, received money
from the republican campaign committee for an
advertisement (unless tho World published it
gratuitously) for space for a scurrilous cartoon
the Sunday before election.
The interest of predatory wealth in the
democratic party is only temporary. It is mani
fested just before the convention because It
would cost less to defeat the democratic party
in the convention than to defeat it at tho .polls,
and the defeat of the democratic party is the
only thing which it desires.
rl r jrt Jw
THE OLD, OLD STORY
The Boston Herald prints the following
timely letter:
Secretary Garfield's recent speech at Colum
bus, O., contained the following:
"The tariff should be revised in accordance
with the republican policy of protection; sched
ules should be so adjusted as to give to our
wage-workers, producers and manufacturers tho
benefit of the difference between the cost of
production at home and abroad. Under sched
ules so arranged there need be no fear of favors
to any monopoly."
Would your readers be interested in the
closing portion of another speech by a good re
publican upon tariff reform?
"In determining when and how that pro
cess (of tariff revision) shall be undertaken, two
cardinal rules should be observed. First, it
should bo done only when congress is as free
as possible from the distraction and temptations
of an active presidential campaign. Tho longer
tho time that Ik to Interveno before an important
election, tho more free from prejudice will bo tho
consideration, tho more pointed will bo tho dis
cussion, the more sincere will be tho treatment,
and tho more effective will be the action of tho
representatives of the people upon any question
of tariff reform.
"Secondly, If the American people wish tho
principle of protection to bo maintained, then
the political party which believes in protection
should do tho wish of revisers. That party can
be safely trusted to do It In duo time and with
due regard to the best Interests or all tho people
of tho United States, farmer and miner and man
ufacturer, and merchant, employer, wage-earner,
producer and consumer alike."
How natural all this sounds, and how fa
miliar! How beautifully adapted to the present
time! It might have boon delivered yesterday,
but it wasn't. It was made by Secretary Root
before the Home Market club, April 20, 1903,
five years ao, and tho "duo time" has not yet
arrived. Next summer, at the republican con
vention, the platform will contain an elegant
and rhetorically written assurance of tho fixed
Intention of tho republican party to revise the
tariff, and the writer will bo perfectly well aware
that tho pariy. if it can have Its way, will shut
down upon every attempt to fulfill the promise.
And a few years hence, when another conven
tion will be coming along, some leading politi
cian will still bo telling tho Innocent public that
the tariff must be revised by its friends and that
the party can bo safely trusted to, etc., etc.,
etc. the same old story; and the curious thing
Is that the Innocent public will more than half
believe it. a. B. C.
Boston.
v v V W
MR. BRYAN AND .MINNESOTA
The following editorial Is taken from tho
Omaha World-I lerald :
"Complaint Is mado by the enemies of Mr.
Bryan, Including those alleged democrats who
mean to oppose him when he is nominated, be
cause he does not 'permit' Governor .Johnson to
have tho unanimous and unquestioned support
of his home state In the Denver convention.
It Is plausibly asserted that It would be only
ordinary fairness and courtesy on Mr. Bryan's
part to concede Minnesota to Minnesota's dis
tinguished democratic governor. It is to bo
hoped that none of Mr. Bryan's friends will
be deceived by this sophistry.
"In tho first place, neither Mr. Bryan nor
any other man is in position to dictate to tho
democrats of any state whom thoy must sup
port. All that Mr. Bryan or anybody else is
entitled to ask is that if democrats aro for him
they instruct for him; If they are for somebody
else, let them Instruct for somebody else. In
either case, the rank and file must say for them
selves what candidate they want. Mr. Bryan
has said that If tho democrats of this country
want him for their candidate he is ready to
servo thern. Ho has mado no demands in his
own behalf; It would be just as Improper for
him to issue commands to his friends and that
is what it would amount to in behalf of some
body else.
"In the second place, the Johnson, candidacy
In Minnesota Is only a part of the plan of Mr.
Bryan's enemies. If Mr. Bryan should bring
pressure on his friends to concede Minnesota
to Governor Johnson because Minnesota Is Gov
ernor Johnson's state, there would soon be a
"favorite son" candidate In most, If not all the
states. And the same argument used In Min
nesota would be used to bring It about that
every state Instructed for Its own 'favorite son'
candidate. This would result In chaos at tho
Denver convention, out of which tho enemies of
true and popular democracy might hope to bring
their sinister designs into shape and being.
"Mr. Bryan is too well acquainted with tho
enemy to be caught by any such trap. If the
democrats of Minnesota want Johnson let them
Instruct for him. If they want Bryan let them
Instruct for Bryan. The question to be consid
ered not alone in Minnesota but in every state
is not where a candidate hails from but
what he stands for. A candidate's ideals, asso
ciations, interests, sincerity, are of far greater
moment than his geographical location. It is
undoubtedly a realization of this fact that leads
many democrats in Minnesota to desire Mr.
Bryan's nomination rather than that of Governor
Johnson. Under the circumstances it would bo
an act of poor democracy to seek to induce them
to desist from the contest. Omaha World-Herald.